The Zimbabwean Food Machine

Voice 2:And I’m Marina Santee. Welcome to Spotlight. This programme uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.

Voice 1:Maiba presses a cool cloth to her hot head. It is a warm day for cooking! But she has much to do. She fills a large, deep pan with water. Then, she puts it over the heat to boil. Next, she takes some corn meal. Corn meal is finely crushed corn. She mixes it with cold water. Her strong arm moves very fast. It is hard work. The mixture starts to become thicker. Next, Maiba adds the mixture to the container of boiling water. She continues to mix it. This is important. She wants a smooth mixture! And she does not want it to stick to the pan. Slowly she adds more corn meal. This mixture becomes very thick now. She moves it to the centre of the pan, in a large ball. It is ready! She serves it on a plate for her hungry family to share. Today, she serves it with vegetables. Maiba has made sadza. As with many families in Zimbabwe, sadza is their main supply of energy food.

Voice 2:Maiba makes good sadza. But it is not an easy job. And she is only making enough for her family! Imagine if she had to feed a room full of people! More than twenty [20] litres of sadza is very hard to control. It does not matter how skillful the person cooking is. It is very difficult to mix the thick substance. And it is hard to get the measures right. Usually more than one person needs to help. They need patience, time, and strong arms!

Voice 1:However, some people are making sadza without much effort at all! They do not need much time, effort or skill! Yet the sadza is close to perfect! What is their secret? A sadza making machine - the Gwatamatic!

Voice 2:The Gwatamatic machine is easy to use. You put the right amount of water into the machine. Then, you fill another part of the machine with corn meal - adding more than you need. You set the controls of the machine. You tell it how thick you want the sadza to be. Then, the machine does the rest! It feeds the corn meal into the water. It comes through a heated tube. When the mixture is the right thickness, the machine stops the feed of corn. The machine operates as a closed system. So, it uses less energy because it traps the steam. And a closed system also means there is less chance of bacteria spreading. In thirty [30] minutes, the machine can make enough sadza to feed five hundred [500] people! The Gwatamatic machine is an amazing invention. Spotlight met the machine’s inventor - William Gwata.

Voice 1:William Gwata is an expert in his field of science - biochemistry. He got the idea for the Gwatamatic machine from working in a chemistry laboratory. Doctors send blood to this laboratory. Scientists in the laboratory test the blood for sickness and disease. The inside of the laboratory is a little like a factory. Scientists busily mix different chemicals to test the blood. They heat chemicals, and they cool them. William said, ‘It is just like being in a cooking room - a kitchen!’

Voice 2:Later, William went to another blood testing laboratory. But this one was a public health laboratory. And the system worked very differently. There was no need for as many workers. Instead, there were machines! This was a better method. It saved time and human effort. People will always produce results that are a little different. They are not machines!